Just purchased a used 2300 regal. Took it out twice and ran for about an hour tops! I noticed once pulling the plug about 5 gallons of water came out both times! I’m not sure where to start but can anyone help me begin to diagnose this issue! I think that’s an awful lot of water to take on just in one hour. No one is getting in wet so not sure where the water is coming from. Thank please help. I really don’t want to take to a shop until last resort I know they will sting me good!

Well the out drive is the culprit 90% of the time. 5 gallons in a hour is a decent amount of water and you will most likely be able to see it coming in. Anchor up, shut down the engine, pop your head around where the engine meets the transom and look/listen. If you can hear/see water coming in from the stern it's time to pull her out of the water and look at the bellows/rubber lines in that area. Do you know when they were last changed by chance?

No I don’t. I just bought the boat a few months ago. It only has 65 hours and is a 2012. I will definitely take a look next time I’m out in the water. How often do you change the bellows? I will send a message to last owner to find out! Thanks for your reply!!

If you don't know when the bellows were changed last I highly recommend that you get them changed. If it only had 65 hours and is 6-7 years old then there could be some dry rot if they have never been changed. If you look very carefully you will look for cracks or breaks on the main drive line bellow. Also as others said there are a number of other penetration points as well in the transom. Between the shift cable, power cable for trim pump (If VP) and the trim sender any one of those could be leaking. The other possible is Y pipe inside the boat leaking for exhaust, or even another raw water line inside the boat when running. You really need to get it in the water and poke around in there to see. If there isn't anything then get it running and look around esp at the water pump area and raw water lines coming from drive through the engine up to the manifolds.

If the boat has been sitting for any length of time with the drive in the full up position that can very easily cause cracking when you put it down, so look at that drive bellow carefully when its up up and down trim and full left and right.

Ok thank you I will indeed look soon as it stops raining here in California. It’s never been changed I talked to owner today but he did say it sat in a lake for 3 years. I wish the back opened the opposite way so I can run it and watch . The way the compartment opens you have to be on the back of the boat so to run it will be a lil difficult unless in neutral. I hope it’s not something serious!! Thanks for response. Oh he did have underwater lights installed on rear I’m gonna look closely at that and I I also noticed the bilge hose lil drains on the side of the boat are loose so they need to glued or silicones in cause I’m sure I’m getting a Lil water from there also. I’ve looked at the rubber bellow hose looks intact but I need to turn the wheel the opposite direction checkbthe other side along with the nuts to see if there all the way right! Thanks

If it sat for that long I would for sure just have the drive pulled off and the bellows along with the u-joint and bearings checked. If it has leaked at all there will be rust there and those items will need to be replaced as well. While the drive is off you can have the alignment checked as well, just to make sure that is ok. Once the drive is off the labor for all those things is already done. Also if it hasn't been done as well a fluid change on the outdrive. That should be done yearly regardless of the hours. Same for the raw water impeller, that is a every year or every other. Again just if its been sitting many things can and will go bad. Rubber gets brittle sitting one way and not being used.

That is the good and bad of a low hour boat, when it gets used regularly it normally is less prone to breaking down actually. Let us know for sure what you find. Its always good for others that have the same issue down the road.

Will do chris. Thanks again. He said it sat in lake 3 years but I’m assuming he used very Lil. He says he just had it serviced the beginning of the season so that I was good for this next season so I’ll just drop off at a local marine shop have them take a look but first I would like to sit it in some water just to see if I see anything but on the other hand if the bellows haven’t been changed like they haven’t then they are due so maybe I should just drop them check to see if leak continues. Thanks again and will definitely update once I find!

Yes it takes on water in rain. Sits at my home but I have where it drains. I’ll even pull it around the corner just to get all the trapped water out. I just did that about a hour ago and checked the bellows and they all look very well intact. At first I didn’t know what to look for but YouTubed it moved motor around and he’ll they look brand new!. So before I take into the shop I’m gonna sit in water just to see if I could figure this out. Note: when I’m taking on this water it’s not high enough for the bilge to come on even when I manually turn on no water comes out bilge! I checked bilge checking if it works and it does. One time drain had a piece plastic stuck in drain and I was going down the road and bilge throwing water out. So it works. So when powering on the bilge no water pull the plug about 5 gallons plus. Just thought I’d throw that in there. Boat looks brand new to have this issue.

1) I recommend putting the drain plug in and running the garden hose into the bilge directly to the point where you can see the bilge float switch submerge (or bilge pump if no float). You should hear the pump kick on and see water being pumped out the side. This is especially important if you plan to slip your boat (leave it in the water all the time). Like you said, you did notice it had come on while trailering previously. After you verify the the pump works, shut off the hose and pull the drain plug. As you know, you'll get a ton of water out of the boat, even with the water level being below the pump's shut off level.

2) Visual inspection is important for the bellows - but if they haven't already been changed by the previous owner, I'd highly recommend having them changed. A 2012 boat that is slipped should certainly have the bellows changed by this point. My 2011 was probably due for this last year and will have this service before going in the water this spring. Also, a competent mechanic will get a lot of exposure to the boat with the drive off, and this is a good time to address anything that needs to be done. Many marinas pull the drive and check for these issues as part of their "springerization" process.

3) Familiarize yourself w/ the engine compartment and the boat's systems. Identify all the major systems and components, including the raw water intake line, impeller location, the block drains, power steering, etc.

4) After you are comfortable with what you're looking at in the engine bay, I'd put the boat back in the water, on the trailer. Back it in the water, get in the boat, and pop the hatch. See if you can see any water entering anywhere. Can you see where the underwater lights were installed? Any droplets in there? 5 gallons of water in an hour is far too much water to be leaking in, but a 5GPH flow rate isn't all that high. I'm thinking it might be tough to spot this leak unless it's obvious. If you don't find anything, run the blower and fire up the engine while the boat is still on the trailer and in the water. Perform the same inspection of the engine compartment, obviously being careful of the running engine (no loose clothing, long hair, etc). See if there is water leaking from any hoses that may not have been leaking when the engine wasn't running.

5) As a tip - I like to transport the boat with the drain plug removed - this way you get as much water out on the way to the lake.

Keep us updated - tons of friendly and knowledgeable folks on this forum who are happy to help.

Thanks for advice! Yes I ran the boat on the trailer looking for a leak but couldn’t see any. It was starting to get dark and cold so I will have another shot at it later.when I was trailering the boat plug is always out but previous owner had plugged clogged with plastic debi and stuff so water was coming from bilge. I stuck a hanger inside unclogged. Lots of water came out so I took care of that problem. I will have bellows changed once I arrive back from vacation. Thank for everyone’s advice support! Great forum!!